Power pick-up assembly and corresponding railway vehicle

ABSTRACT

This power pick-up for a railway vehicle comprises a pantograph ( 4 ) and a pantograph support ( 7 ), the pantograph support ( 7 ) comprising a stationary chassis ( 8 ) for mounting on the roof ( 2 ) of a railway vehicle ( 3 ), and a mobile chassis ( 9 ) carrying the pantograph ( 4 ) and connected to the stationary chassis ( 8 ) to tilt laterally with respect thereto on each side of a position of rest. The mobile chassis ( 9 ) is connected to the stationary chassis ( 8 ) by two tilting rigid lateral supports ( 14 ), each tilting support ( 14 ) being articulated, on the one hand, to the stationary chassis ( 8 ) at two longitudinally-spaced points ( 17 ) and, on the other hand, to the mobile chassis ( 9 ) at two longitudinally-spaced points ( 22).

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The subject of the present invention is a power pick-up assembly for arailway vehicle, of the type comprising a pantograph and a pantographsupport, the pantograph support comprising a stationary chassis formounting on the roof of a railway vehicle, and a mobile chassis carryingthe pantograph and connected to the stationary chassis to tilt laterallywith respect thereto on each side of a position of rest.

The invention applies, in particular, to a tilting railway vehicle.

Such a railway vehicle is designed so that its body shall adopt alateral inclination with respect to the axis of the axles of its bogiesin the curved parts of railway lines.

If an assembly is mounted on top of the railway vehicle for picking uppower from an overhead power line, it then becomes necessary for thepantograph to be inclined laterally with respect to the body in theopposite direction to the direction in which the body is inclined withrespect to its axles, so as to limit the lateral movement of thecollector bow of the pantograph with respect to the contact line of theoverhead power lines.

This is because if there were no such inclination of the pantograph inthe opposite direction, known as tilt compensation inclination, therelative movement of the collector bow with respect to the contact linecould be great enough for the line to be in contact only with theinsulated parts of the collector bow or even spaced laterally from it,and this could cause damage to the overhead line and to the pantograph,particularly as the body returns to its position of rest.

Document EP-A-785,100 describes a power pick-up assembly of theaforementioned type in which the mobile pantograph support chassis isconnected by four link rods to the stationary chassis. At rest, that isto say when there is no tilt compensation, the points of articulation ofthe link rods transversely form a downwards-converging trapezium. Thelateral movement of the mobile chassis causes the pantograph to beinclined laterally with respect to the body.

The lateral movement of the mobile chassis is brought about by means ofone or more rams which thrust the mobile chassis laterally and which isor are arranged on one side or both sides of the pantograph support. Acontrol system steers the ram(s) to move the mobile chassis and providethe pantograph with tilt compensation.

To ensure satisfactory movement of the mobile chassis while at the sametime limiting the unwanted movements in translation and rotation, it isappropriate to provide guides against which the mobile chassis slides,and to fit a central lateral ram on each side of the mobile chassis.

Correct operation of the power pick-up assembly therefore entails acomplex bulky structure which is subject to dissipation of mechanicalenergy by rubbing at the guides which thus constitute wearing parts.

The substantial bulk of a power pick-up assembly of this kind is aparticular hindrance in complying with size requirements imposed onrailway vehicles without limiting the headroom available for thepassengers within the vehicle.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

One object of the invention is to provide a power pick-up assembly ofthe aforementioned type which allows the mobile chassis to be guidedsatisfactorily and which has a relatively simple structure.

To this end, the subject of the invention is a power pick-up assembly ofthe aforementioned type, characterized in that the mobile chassis isconnected to the stationary chassis by two tilting rigid lateralsupports, each tilting support being articulated, on the one hand, tothe stationary chassis at two longitudinally-spaced points and, on theother hand, to the mobile chassis at two longitudinally-spaced points.

According to particular embodiments, the power pick-up assembly maycomprise one or more of the following characteristics, taken inisolation or in any technically feasible combination:

each tilting support comprises a yoke articulated by its branches to thestationary chassis, and two clevis mounts which extend the base of theyoke and which are articulated to the mobile chassis;

each tilting support has a transverse profile with its concave aspectfacing towards the inside of the power pick-up assembly;

the clevis mounts of each tilting support are roughly orthogonal to thebranches of the corresponding yoke;

the points by which the tilting supports are articulated to the mobileand stationary chassis form, transversely, a trapezium which convergesdownwards when the power pick-up assembly is mounted on the roof of arailway vehicle and when the mobile chassis is in the position of rest

A further subject of the invention is a railway vehicle comprising apower pick-up assembly mounted on the roof of the vehicle, characterizedin that the power pick-up assembly is an assembly as definedhereinabove.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will be better understood upon reading the descriptionwhich will follow, which is given merely by way of example and made withreference to the appended drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic part view in perspective illustrating the roofof a railway vehicle according to the invention,

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic view in exploded perspective of the pantographsupport and of the means for moving the power pick-up assembly of thevehicle of FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 is an enlarged diagrammatic view in longitudinal sectionillustrating the link between the movement means and the mobile chassisof FIGS. 1 and 2, and

FIGS. 4 and 5 are diagrammatic transverse views illustrating the railwayvehicle of FIG. 1 in a position of rest and in a tilted position,respectively.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 illustrates a power pick-up assembly 1 mounted on top of the roof2 of a tilting railway vehicle 3. Only part of the roof 2 is depicteddiagrammatically in chain line in FIG. 1.

This power pick-up assembly 1 essentially comprises:

a pantograph 4 itself comprising an articulated arm 5 equipped with acollector bow 6 at an upper end,

a pantograph support 7 itself comprising a stationary first chassis 8and a mobile second chassis 9, and

means 10 for moving the mobile chassis 9.

For reasons of clarity, the depiction of the support 7 has beensimplified in FIG. 1, but FIG. 2 illustrates its structure more fully.

The stationary chassis 8 comprises a frame 11 of roughly square orrectangular shape, and four electric insulators 12 one arranged at eachcorner of the frame 11, under the latter. The stationary chassis 8 ismounted on the roof 2 via the electric insulators 12 which form feetsupporting the chassis 8 on the roof 2. The insulators 12 keep thestationary 8 frame 11 spaced away from the roof 2.

The mobile chassis 9 is a frame of smaller dimensions than the frame 11.The mobile chassis 9 is arranged inside the stationary chassis 8 and isconnected thereto by two tilting rigid supports 14 arranged one on eachside of the mobile chassis 9.

Each support 14 comprises a U-shaped part 15 or yoke, the two branches16 of which are articulated at points 17 to the front side 18 and to therear side 19 of the frame 11, and two lugs or clevis mounts 20,extending the base 21 of the yoke 15 downwards orthogonally to thebranches 16, and which are articulated at points 22 to a lateral side ofthe mobile chassis 9.

The tilting supports 14 therefore, relative to the longitudinaldirection L of the vehicle 3, have a cranked transverse profile, withthe concave aspect facing towards the inside of the pantograph support7.

The points 17 and 22 are points of articulation about axes which areparallel to the longitudinal direction L.

The points 17 of articulation of the branches 16 and, respectively, thepoints 22 of articulation of the lugs 20 of one same tilting support 14are longitudinally aligned and spaced apart, that is to say are alignedand spaced apart in the longitudinal direction L of the vehicle 3.

FIG. 4 diagrammatically illustrates the body of the vehicle 3 in theposition of rest, that is to say in the absence of tilting, andtherefore with its roof 2 parallel to the axis of the axles of itsbogies and to the plane of a railway line on which the vehicle 3 isstanding. In this figure, the plane of the railway line is assumed to behorizontal and only the body of the vehicle 3 and the power pick-upassembly 1 are depicted. The points 17 and 22 of articulation of thetilting supports 14 to the stationary chassis 8 and to the mobilechassis 9 therefore transversely form an isosceles trapezium convergingdownwards, that is to say converging towards the roof 2 of the railwayvehicle.

It will be noted that in this FIG. 4, the tilting supports 14 have beendepicted, for reasons of simplification, as having a straight transverseprofile.

The distance laterally separating the points of articulation 17 of thetwo tilting supports 14 is about 870 mm. The distance laterallyseparating the points of articulation 22 of the two tilting supports 14is about 760 mm. The distance transversely separating the points ofarticulation 17 and 22 of one same tilting support 14 is about 280 mm.The points 17 of articulation of the tilting supports 14 to thestationary chassis 8 are located 540 mm above the roof 2.

By virtue of the tilting supports 14 which form two laterally-spacedpivoting links, the mobile chassis 9 can tilt laterally with respect tothe stationary chassis 8 on each side of its position of rest depictedin FIG. 4, the quadrilateral formed transversely by the points ofarticulation 17 and 22 thus deforming.

Because of the rigidity of the supports 14 and the longitudinal spacingof the points of articulation 17 and 22, the mobile chassis 9 is guidedsatisfactorily in its tilting movement, with limited unwanted movementsin rotation and translation.

As can be seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, the means 10 of moving the mobilechassis 9 are arranged at the front (to the left in FIGS. 1 and 2) ofthe pantograph support 7 and comprise an electric motor 26, reductiongearing 27 and a driving arm 28.

The electric motor 26 is fixed by a support 29 to the roof 2 of therailway vehicle 3. Its output shaft, not depicted, is parallel to thelongitudinal direction L and orientated towards the rear. This outputshaft is connected to the reduction gearing 27 via an electric insulator30.

The reduction gearing 27 is flange-mounted on the front side 18 of theframe 11 of the stationary chassis 8. Its output shaft 31 (FIG. 3) isparallel to the longitudinal direction L and extends from the front side18 of the stationary chassis 8 rearwards slightly.

The upper end 33 of the driving arm 28 is fixed to this output shaft 31so that the arm 28 can pivot on the action of the motor 26 laterallyabout an axis X—X parallel to the longitudinal direction L.

The lower end 34 of the arm 28 has an oblong groove 35 extending in thelengthwise direction of the arm 28, on the rear side thereof. Thisslightly oblong groove 35 takes a ball 36 fixed on a stub 37 whichprojects forwards from the front side 39 of the mobile chassis 9. Theball 36 and the oblong groove 35 form, between the driving arm 28 andthe mobile chassis 9, a link which allows pivoting and radial slidingwith respect to the axis X—X.

As illustrated diagrammatically by FIG. 4, the ball 36, whichcorresponds to the point of articulation of the arm 28 to the mobilechassis 9, is situated at the centre of the short base of the trapeziumformed by the points of articulation 17 and 22. Thus, the point ofarticulation 36 is located laterally mid-way between the points 22 aboutwhich the tilting supports 14 are articulated to the mobile chassis 9.

Likewise, the axis X—X about which the arm 28 can pivot is locatedlaterally mid-way between the points 17 about which the tilting supports14 are articulated to the stationary chassis 8. This axis X—X is locatedslightly below the level of these points of articulation 17. However,the axis X—X has, for reasons of clarity, been depicted on the long baseof the trapezium formed transversely by the points of articulation 17and 22.

The lower end of the arm 5 of the pantograph 4 is connected to themobile chassis 9 in such a way as to secure the arm 5 and the mobilechassis 9 laterally.

The tilting supports 14 are therefore arranged laterally on each side ofthe pantograph 4.

In the conventional way, the arm 5 is deformable between a deployedpower pick-up position and a folded space-minimizing position, to allowthe collector bow 6 a movement of vertical translation above the roof 2.

In its deployed position, illustrated in dotted line in FIG. 4, acentral region 43 of the collector bow 6 of the pantograph 4 is pressingagainst a contact line 44 of a set of overhead power lines over the topof the railway vehicle 3.

In the folded position (FIG. 1), the intermediate articulation 45 of thearm 5, connecting its lower portion 46 and its upper portion 47, islocated to the rear of the pantograph support 7.

When the railway vehicle 3 is running along a curved part of railwayline, its body, and therefore the roof 2 adopts a lateral inclination αtowards the centre of curvature of the track, for example towards theleft as illustrated in FIG. 5.

The motor 26 is therefore commanded by a control unit, not depicted, tocause the arm 28 to pivot laterally in the opposite direction, that isto say towards the right in FIG. 5. The mobile chassis 9 is thereforemoved laterally with respect to the stationary chassis 8 under theaction of the driving arm 28 so that the arm 5 of the pantograph 4 iskept roughly vertical or orthogonal to the railway line.

Thus, the collector bow 6 is kept roughly horizontal or parallel to theplane of the railway line and the contact line 44 of the overhead powerline is kept in contact with the central region 43 of the collector bow6.

It will be observed that when the mobile chassis 9 moves laterally inthe vicinity of its position of rest, by deformation of thequadrilateral formed transversely by the points of articulation 17 and22, the point of articulation 36 moves practically in an arc of a circle49 (FIG. 5) centred on the axis X—X.

Thus, the arm 28 for driving the mobile chassis 9 makes it possible forthe chassis to be moved satisfactorily to provide the pantograph 4 withtilt compensation.

In general, the stationary chassis 8 and the mobile chassis 9 and thelinks between these will be designed so that the point of articulation36 roughly describes an arc of a circle when the mobile chassis 9 tiltswith respect to the stationary chassis 8 so as to provide tiltcompensation for angles of tilting smaller than 10°.

In practice, the sliding link between the lower end 34 of the arm 28 andthe mobile chassis 9 makes it possible to absorb the small radialmisalignments of the ball 36 with respect to the arc of a circle 49.

Incidentally, the tilting rigid supports 14 provide the mobile chassis 9with satisfactory lateral guidance and limited rubbing. The presence ofthe tilting supports 14 means that the two lateral rams and guideshitherto needed for satisfactorily driving the mobile chassis 9 cantherefore be dispensed with.

The tilting rigid supports 14 therefore play a part in, on the one hand,limiting the size of the power pick-up assembly 1 and, on the otherhand, obtaining effective tilt compensation for the pantograph.

It will also be noted that the transverse profile of the tiltingsupports 14, with their concave aspect facing towards the inside of thepantograph support 7, makes it possible to obtain a wide angularexcursion of the pantograph supports 14 in a small volume. Thischaracteristic makes it possible to reduce the bulk of the power pick-upassembly 1 still further.

Furthermore, the structure of the support 7 for supporting thepantograph 4 allows the use of a pantograph 4 of conventional structure.

What is claimed is:
 1. Power pick-up assembly for a railway vehicle, ofthe type comprising a pantograph and a pantograph support, thepantograph support comprising a stationary chassis for mounting on theroof of a railway vehicle, and a mobile chassis carrying the pantographand connected to the stationary chassis to tilt laterally with respectthereto on each side of a position of rest, wherein the mobile chassisis connected to the stationary chassis by two tilting rigid lateralsupports having a transverse profile with a concave aspect facingtowards the inside of the power pick-up assembly, each tilting supportcomprising a yoke articulated by branches to the stationary chassis attwo longitudinally-spaced points, and two clevis mounts which extend thebase of the yoke and which are roughly orthogonal to the branches of theyoke, said two clevis mounts being articulated to the mobile chassis attwo longitudinally-spaced points.
 2. Assembly according to claim 1,wherein the points by which the tilting supports are articulated to themobile and stationary chassis form, transversely, a trapezium whichconverges downwards when the power pick-up assembly is mounted on theroof of a railway vehicle and when the mobile chassis is in the positionof rest.
 3. Railway vehicle comprising a power pick-up assembly mountedon the roof of the vehicle, characterized in that the power pick-upassembly is an assembly according to claim
 1. 4. Assembly according toclaim 1, wherein each tilting support forms two laterally spacedpivoting links, said pivoting links allowing the mobile chassis to tiltlaterally with respect to the stationary chassis on each side of aposition of rest.
 5. Assembly according to claim 4, wherein the mobilechassis tilts laterally by deformation of a trapezium formedtransversely by the points.
 6. Power pick-up assembly for a railwayvehicle, of the type comprising a pantograph and a pantograph support,the pantograph support comprising a stationary chassis for mounting onthe roof of a railway vehicle, and a mobile chassis carrying thepantograph and connected to the stationary chassis to tilt laterallywith respect thereto on each side of a position of rest, wherein themobile chassis is located inside the stationary chassis and connected tothe stationary chassis by two tilting rigid lateral supports having atransverse profile with a concave aspect facing towards the inside ofthe power pick-up assembly, each tilting support comprising a yokearticulated by branches to the stationary chassis at twolongitudinally-spaced points, and two clevis mounts which extend thebase of the yoke and which are roughly orthogonal to the branches of theyoke, said two clevis mounts being articulated to the mobile chassis attwo longitudinally-spaced points.
 7. Assembly according to claim 6,wherein the points by which the tilting supports are articulated to themobile chassis and the stationary chassis form, transversely, atrapezium which converges downward when the power pick-up assembly ismounted on the roof of a railway vehicle and when the mobile chassis isin a position of rest.
 8. Assembly according to claim 6, wherein eachtilting support forms two laterally spaced pivoting links, said pivotinglinks allowing the mobile chassis to tilt laterally with respect to thestationary chassis on each side of a position of rest.
 9. Assemblyaccording to claim 8, wherein the mobile chassis tilts laterally bydeformation of a trapezium formed transversely by the points. 10.Railway vehicle comprising a power pick-up assembly mounted on the roofof the vehicle, characterized in that the power pick-up assembly is anassembly according to claim 6.